Races & Rides

2012 Olympic Long Team for women's road and MTB announced

USA Cycling announced Thursday the 30 athletes in the disciplines of mountain biking and women’s road cycling who are eligible to be nominated to represent the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games.

As part of its Olympic Team nomination process, USA Cycling will name a Long Team of eligible athletes in the disciplines of men’s and women’s mountain bike and women’s road cycling; men’s and women’s track cycling and men’s BMX. This will serve as a pool of riders from which the Olympic Team will be selected.

Women’s Road Long Team
In the discipline of women’s road cycling, 13 athletes were named to the Long Team, four of which met the automatic nomination criteria. Athletes automatically named to the Long Team include Robin Farina (Charlotte, N.C./NOW and Novartis for MS), Megan Guarnier (Mountain View, Calif./Team TIBCO), Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif./HTC-Highroad) and Evelyn Stevens (Dennis, Mass./HTC-Highroad). Farina, a North Carolina bike shop owner and coach, earned her automatic nomination by virtue of winning the 2011 USA Cycling Elite Women’s Road Race National Championship. Her overall victory at the 2011 Giro Toscana secured Guarnier an automatic nomination. Neben, a 2008 Olympian and time trial world champion, is ranked inside the top 25 in international ranking points giving her an automatic berth. Stevens, a former Wall Street banker, secured her spot on the Long Team with a win at the 2011 USA Cycling Elite Women’s Time Trial National Championship.

Women’s Mountain Bike Long Team
A similar model was used to select the women’s mountain bike Long Team as five athletes earned automatic nominations. With top 10 finishes at the 2011 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, UCI Mountain Bike World Cups #6 and #7 and as the winner of USA Cycling Pro XCT in 2011, Lea Davison (Jericho, Vt./Specialized) locked up her automatic nomination. With a fifth-place finish at the 2011 UCI World Cup #5 and second overall in the 2011 Pro XCT, 2008 mountain bike Olympian Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./Luna) secured her spot. Wife of Horgan-Kobelski, Heather Irmiger (Boulder, Colo./Subaru-Trek) earned the automatic nod after finishing the year ranked 24th internationally. Mountain bike Olympian in 2004 and 2008, Mary McConneloug (Fairfax, Calif./ Kenda-Seven-NoTubes) and Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Rabobank), who also excels in the cyclo-cross di

Judy Freeman was a discertionary nominee to the women's mountain bike Long Team.

scipline, also earned automatic nominations via their top-50 international ranking.

Willow Rockwell(Durango, Colo./Trek World Racing), who won the bronze medal at the 2009 and 2010 World Championships is a discretionary nominee, along with Chloe Woodruff (Tucson, Ariz./BMC), Krista Park (Madison, S.D./Cannondale-No Tubes) and Judy Freeman (Brighton, Colo./Kenda-Felt).

“USA Cycling would like to congratulate the athletes who have earned nominations to the 2012 Olympic Long Team in these disciplines,” said USA Cycling’s Vice President of Athletics Jim Miller. “The hard work and determination of these athletes has helped USA Cycling advance its vision of making the U.S. the most successful country in the world of competitive cycling. They are evidence of the United States’ ability to be a legitimate medal contender across all four disciplines of competitive cycling in London. The athletes on this list have either proven their capabilities to win medals in major international events or illustrated the potential to do so in the future.”

The Long Team rosters for men’s and women’s track cycling are set to be unveiled on Dec. 15. The Long Team for men’s BMX will be announced on May 31, 2012, in advance of the June 16 BMX Olympic Trials in Chula Vista, Calif. The women’s BMX selection process does not include the naming of a Long Team.

The selection process of athletes to the men’s road squad does not include the naming of a Long Team. Instead, the team that will represent the United States in London will be determined by competitive results at major international events throughout the 2011 and 2012 racing seasons. To date none has yet met the automatic nomination criteria.

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USA Cycling is the official governing body for all disciplines of competitive cycling in the United States. The 501c3, membership-based organization aims both to achieve sustained success in international cycling competition and to grow competitive cycling in America while delivering an exceptional customer experience.
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